Posted:
Originally posted by: SindhuMenon
Ela, a Briefing of what I got from reading Akbarnama. I read till 150 pages. Need to catch up on reading.
- Akbar had charming qualities, keen intellect but by no means a saint or philosopher
- He was ruthless and self indulgent. He Condemned 20 children to death???Abhay/Ela have you heard about this.
- He ordered one of his men to look for a ford and he did not go till Akbar had asked him to go as Villagers told him they did not see any ford. That man's property was confiscated and he was sold as a slave
- Akbar was angry with a man who came in front of him drunk, that man was drenched in cold water and he died of shock.
- Salim found new ways to kill people, bitten by snakes. Make the kids watch their father killed
- Akbar when changed from Muslim to half hindu, expressed horror at his sons cruelties.
- Akbar had went on a hunting trip, birds and beasts had been gathered for miles in a jheleam district of Punjab, Suddenly Akbar had a change of mind and ordered to release all beasts and bird. It was supposed to be that he had a vision or some hermit visited him.
- Islamic prayers was abolished in court and worship of elect was based on that of Parsi and partly on the ceremonial of Hindus
- Salim saw Abul Fazi as an obstacle for all his wild plans
- 1592 Abul Fazi was promoted to post of commander of 2000 horse
- Abul Fazi did not like todarmal but praised him for his integrity and abilities. Abul Fazi complained about todermal to Akbar but akbar said he could not drive away a faithful old servant
- when accompanying Akbar, Todermal lost his gods, was sad and did not eat for days as he did not do anything before worship. Akbar cheered him up.
- Akbar bereaved at Abul fazi's death more than his son. He said if Salim wanted he could have killed me than killing AF
- Guards for Thursday, Fri, sat encamped in center. Sunday Monday on Right and Tuesday Wed on left
Sindhu,
You are reading Ain-e-Akbari. ?? :-P
Please read Akbarnama.
Ain is not history of Akbar, it contains observations/regulations till pg-306, after that i did not find it worth reading... Those points from Ain have been given by Vincent Smith also at appropriate places in his book in distributed manner..!!!
Ain contains lots of interpretations of the translator which are often NOT in sync.
Please dont believe 100% thing which is mentioned in that by external agents...That's why saying that you should start from the "starting" -> I mean from Akbarnama, Vol-1 onwards...There are 3 volumes. .
I am only responding to the point about 20 children, as you have asked.. 😊
Akbar did NOT condemn those 20 children to death.!!. The problem with many Foreign authors is that they do not understand many things from our culture and then exaggerate many things..All are not like that, but some write too negatively..
Agree Akbar was not a saint, he had his follies, but he was not so bad also..
Radhika was emphasizing on same thing in this blog post. >
http://mariam-uz-zamani.blogspot.com/2015/01/meywa-jan-fake-preganancy-case-oriental-perspective.html
The actual incident is this >>> During the debates in Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar insisted that a person speaks something after he learns it from society...
So Akbar confined a few newborn children in a house specially built for them in total seclusion; and nurses were appointed to look after them and they had orders not to speak in front of the small babies..
After 3 years, Akbar visited that house. It was noted that all the children used in this experiment failed to pick / learn / speak anything or any language.
Thereby proving Akbar's POV that one can speak something only after hearing from others..
No one is born with perfect qualities. >A person learns everything from his/her surroundings.<
But, Personally, i think this was not good to keep these new born children for 3 years in solitary confinement, just to prove a point..🥱
If possible please question back > what is written in the text and try to verify the same thing from many sources. Only then this would become more refined.<I do the same.
I recommend start to read from Akbarnama volume-1 onwards...Read the life histories of people, not the regulations books. :P As you are interested in knowing about their history ... :))
BTW, Do keep sharing. 😊 And don't miss the blog also. 😉
